Almost a terra cotta tragedy

The Friday of our vacation Cody and I were rushing to get out the door because we were excited to see the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit at the Bowers and didn't want to be late. I grabbed the tickets from my nightstand as I was brushing my teeth and did a double take. CRAP! They were for THURSDAY!

My desk calendar, Google calendar, Blackberry, and blog all had notes that our museum tickets were for 10:00am on Thursday, yet for whatever reason we had it in our heads that they were for FRIDAY.

A million different thoughts and were racing through my head – we were looking forward to this for weeks, do we go and see if they’ll let us in with our old tickets, do we bite the bullet and spend $50 on new tickets, LittleK took the time and effort to get these for us, how could we be so stupid, I had it written down EVERYWHERE that it was for THURSDAY not FRIDAY, we were lazy bums and did absolutely nothing the day before, how did we not know it was THURSDAY, so on and so forth.

The clock was ticking and now there was a chance we'd be late to the 10:00am entrance. If we couldn't make the right day, the least we could do is make the right time. We were hoping we could speak with someone at the museum, explain our situation, and they'd take pity on our sheer patheticness and let us in with our expired tickets.

My heart dropped when we arrived because the museum was crowded, the exhibit was packed, and I was sure they wouldn't let us in, but the woman at the front desk was kind enough to change the date on our tickets and let us join the crowd that was already inside. I seriously wanted to jump over the partition and hug her, but I think that would've been a tad inappropriate and she may have retracted her offer.

There was a no photo policy inside the exhibit, so the following photos are from the Bowers website.

The handheld listening devices that narrated each display really brought the exhibit to life. Each section was told in a story-like fashion which provided more a feeling of "a day in the life of" rather than "welcome to history class". We listened to all the tracks, read all the descriptions, and sat back to admire the intricacy of each item. All in all, we were inside the Terra Cotta exhibit for about 2 hours.




It was laid out a bit like an Ikea store with a maze took us through the 22 different stations. We got additional narration by listening to the other crazy museum goers spout out their knowledge of each piece. Some of the patrons were serious fanatics. Also, one of the docents inside had a nametag that read "Beverly Bowers". We couldn't help but wonder if she was related to THE Bowers of the Bowers Museum.




The detail of each piece was remarkable. Individual strands of hair were carved, as well as shoelaces on each shoe. Each soldier had different armor, hairstyles, weapons, and faces. My favorite display was of the chariot driver. His armor covered the tops of his hands so he wouldn't lose control of the reigns if he was hit. He also had a higher protective collar than the other soldiers. Essentially, each warrior was created to be battle ready.




I'd look at Cody, then at a bow and arrow or spear, then back at Cody in disbelief that he could totally use those gigantic weapons that were the same high quality weapons the military of that period had. There was something astounding about seeing these life-sized pieces and realizing they were really LIFE-SIZED. Seeing the items up close had a much more profound effect than looking at them in a textbook.




We’re so glad our catastrophe ended on a happy note. Thank you, thank you, thank you LittleK for getting us these tickets!

Bakery, butterflies, and broadway

Tuesday of our vacation was one big ball of fun up in LA. We got up there in half the time since we went after rush hour on a weekday. I wish we'd always have this kind of travel time whenever we go north.

First we went to Portos for lunch. The timing was perfect because we managed to grab a parking spot out front. In the past we’ve always had to circle the block a few times to find a space despite the large lot in the back.




There was so much gorgeous food inside. If we lived closer I’d seriously come here at least once a week.























Cody had the steak torta sandwich (strips of grilled steak with guacamole, black bean spread, cotija cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes on a French roll) and a mango smoothie.








I had a turkey croissant sandwich (turkey, Swiss cheese, mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes on a butter croissant). Simple, but utterly perfect.





Afterward we got some cream cheese rolls and guava and cream cheese strudel to go so we could snack throughout the day as we ran around town.








Then it was off to the Natural History Museum.




I thought we were just going to wander around for a bit to cool off and possibly see Thomas or some other exhibits. What my wonderful husband failed to tell me was that the Pavilion of Wings was also open!





It was such a great surprise. We spent about two hours inside admiring all the butterflies, moths, and flowers.
























































By the time we made it inside the museum we only had 45 minutes left before closing, so we rushed through to our exhibits of choice and only stopped to take a couple photos.














On the way out we saw this guy grab a snack from a local picnic and scamper up a tree. So funny and so cute.





My kindergarten told me there weren't such things as purple trees. Oh yeah? What do you call these?





And the grand finale of our day, Wicked at the Pantages








We even got to see Steven Schwartz's star directly outside the theater. Totally appropriate that night since he was the composer and lyricist for Wicked.




The theater was completely packed. Surprising since it was a weeknight.




But the show was absolutely amazing. Cody and I were singing the whole way home.